Logistics technology: New Oracle WMS offering provides shippers with more options and flexibility
Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 6/1/2009
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.—Earlier today, Oracle rolled out a new version of Oracle Warehouse Management, a warehouse management system (WMS), which it said shippers can leverage as a distributed application.
As a distributed application, Oracle cited how shippers can use this WMS without needing to upgrade to the most recent version of Oracle’s E-Business Suite (EBS), an on-demand and desktop-based platform comprised of order management procurement and financial applications, which was previously required.
“What we have done is taken the WMS and allowed it to be deployed in distributed—or standalone—mode,” said Jennifer Sherman, Oracle senior director of logistics product strategy. “It is the same product as before, and we are leveraging the same capabilities our existing install base has used…but without the need to install the EBS.”
Sherman said that this new offering will be attractive to EBS customers that want their WMS on a separate platform, and can continue shipping if their ERP system is down for maintenance. And other EBS customers will be able to leverage this WMS without having to upgrade other features they don’t need.
Oracle officials said this version is geared towards “higher volume facilities” through various capabilities, including advanced wave planning, task planning, and demand-driven pick replenishment, among others.
These features are enhanced and updated compared to previous versions and provide shippers with more options for viewing and analyzing data that were not previously available, said Sherman.
“Our WMS was originally built for industrial manufacturing and high-tech sectors,” she said. “There was a strong feature set around manufacturing support. And as we have grown over the last five years, we are getting increasingly into higher-volume distribution environments like wholesale distributors, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, life sciences, consumer packaged goods, and logistics services providers. Because of this we have made a tremendous investment in this product focusing around feature sets high-volume distribution centers need.”
She added that this system works in conjunction with Oracle Transportation Management, its transportation management system.
Risk mitigation: Another benefit of this WMS comes with shippers not being required to change order management and procurement processes or applications by having to make an EBS upgrade, said Sherman. And with this release shippers can customize the WMS according to specific features they need and add others on an as-needed basis to compete with best-of-breed players.
Other benefits available in this WMS release cited by Oracle include:
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upfront visibility into inventories to best manage and process orders at a faster rate;
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better visibility into order process time and labor availability; and
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an aggregate view into all stock and orders requested across the supply chain to improve planning and respond to changes in demand and supply in real-time.
Analyst perspective: A main focus for Oracle with this release is building out a more competitive WMS application, which is a viable alternative to best-of-breeds, coupled with tight integration to the back end of the system, said Dwight Klappich, research VP at Gartner.
“This is not to say it will jump them over RedPrairie or Manhattan Associates in breadth and depth,” he said. “But it shows we are approaching parity across vendors, where we see ERP vendors catching up in this [WMS] space for things like task interleaving and yard management. Oracle is moving into these extended WMS capabilities, and that is where the added value is.”
This value, noted Klappich, can be for things like integration with TMS and dock appointment scheduling to better manage trucks in and out of facilities, which provides value for shippers. He added that features like this focus on doing basic things better, as well as support increasingly complex facilities. And with each new release, he said, Oracle is showing how it is becoming better equipped to compete with best-of-breed players.
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